I was speaking to a friend the other day about a particularly heated moment in a presentation. During her presentation, a white peer I'll call Nancy spoke about the "limited cognitive abilities" of lower-income populations as a basis for excluding populations from her sample group in Los Angeles.

In the Question and Answer section afterwards, a Latina student pointed out the questionable use of "limited cognitive abilities", expressing her concern and her hurt that the phrase seems to paint lower-income groups in an offensive way. Oftentimes, she pointed out, poverty intersects with the lives of urban communites of color. Nancy reiterated that phrase was used in the "scholarly" literature, but it was quite evident that she was flustered. She answered defensively. She seemed to be digging herself a larger hole. Another students of color grilled her again on her rationale in excluding the sample population and, again, my peer spoke hesitantly and defensively. Suddenly a white student rose his hand quickly and congratulated her on her project presentation, seemingly deflecting the criticism the Latina students voiced.

My friend told me later that he saw Nancy was visibly crying in her seat. During the break, almost in textbook fashion, many of the white students in the presentation came to console Nancy, forming a small group, telling her to ignore those comments. In that same hallway, the students of color formed their own group, still offended by the comments exchanged during the Question and Answer session.

Though I personally was not involved in the exchange, as student of color, I was frustrated by this misunderstanding on both sides. This discussion on race and class could have been much more productive and sincere. instead, my friend noticed, the moment recreated colorblind racism: Nancy was painted as a white victim. The Latina students who questioned her seemingly made a "big deal out of nothing", when in fact encountering racism is a lived experience. Colorblind ideology makes us forget that.

Though my friend disagreed with me, I could not deny Nancy her feelings. She was visibly hurt. She felt attacked because she was white. So, I wondered how this exchange could have turned out differently. Because as a society that dominantly holds a colorblind and imperialist ideology, one that is ingrained in us since preschool (I remember the days of Thanksgiving pageants where Native Americans and Pilgrims held hands and sang happily on stage), many of us often do not have the words to talk about race. I reflected that, myself, growing up with moderate privilege in a segregated educational system of Honors and non-honors classes--the former filled with whites and asian americans-- I often did not know the correct "labels." (Do I say African American? Do I say Black? Do I say Hispanic?) Indeed, the structural factors contributing to colorblindness are deeply ingrained in pedagogy and the very way space and society is structured across race and class, ie. the urban inner city versus outer-ring suburbia.

I came across the article "I feel whiteness" When I hear people blaming Whites. Whiteness as cultural victimization. by Dr. McKinney. I found its conclusions that provide suggestions in talking about race, particularly useful. A lot of it deals with problematizing whiteness. Hopefully, step by step, beginning with our discourses, we can turn potentially negative racial encounters into progressive ones.

Activism and pedagogy
As long as white people view whiteness as a liability, no serious work will
be done by average whites to combat racism because they will remain
trapped in the fiction that they are not responsible in any way for related
social inequalities. Indeed, some whites may perceive themselves as the
primary victims of racism. As educators, we are uniquely positioned to
work to break down some of the fictions of whiteness that impede antiracism.

However, this task requires new strategies that are sensitive to the
nuances of contemporary racist ideologies. In the following sections, I
present
some preliminary suggestions about how to begin this process. Most of
these ideas came from beginning to take a stance in the classroom of
taking students at their word, and following their lead. In other words, I
began to take white students’ ‘hang-ups’ at face value, and assume, at least
for the sake of discussion that they have some legitimate basis in young
whites’ experiences. In doing so, I have found it easier to address their
fears and even anger.

Distinguishing between ethnicity and race
In our classroom discussions, we as instructors must draw clear distinctions
between the terms we use, that we often take for granted. For example,
we must be clearer about what we mean when we use the terms ‘prejudice’,
‘discrimination’ and ‘racism’ (see Blauner 1994, for an excellent discussion
of this point). Doing so may alleviate the tendency for white students to
believe that when we discuss ‘white racism’ we are calling all whites
prejudiced or intentionally racist. In this sense, it is also crucial to make
clear the difference between individual and institutional racism. This can
make it easier to expose the false parallels in students’ claims of ‘reverse
racism’, as well. By making our terminology clear, we can explain better
how prejudice against whites is not the same as racism against people of
color.

New discourses of antiracism must also make a distinction between race
and ethnicity. Part of young whites’ racial resentment comes from
confounding these terms. They believe themselves to be equally victimized,
economically and culturally, as people of color. However, it is the ethnicity,
not the ‘race’, of people of color that is being protected by affirmative
action policies and cultural clubs or festivals. Thus, when whites question
why there are no similar ‘white’ clubs and festivals, part of the answer is
because ‘white’ is a racial and not an ethnic group. Furthermore, it may
indeed be the case that ‘whiteness’ is for all practical cultural purposes
‘empty’. However, it is quite ‘full’ of practical purposes in terms of white
privilege. A new antiracism might encourage whites who yearn for a
group-based identity, in this time of a shifting sense of whiteness, to
explore ethnicity, rather than continuing to look for ‘culture’ in whiteness,
which is a political identity based on domination and oppression of others.

Acknowledging the ‘costs’ of racism and classism to whites
In class discussions, I have always tried to make it clear to white students
how racism “costs” them in the sense that it is wasteful to society as a
whole. However, it has been an instinctive reaction on my part, when
white students bring up how they also experience hardships because of
various facets of their identity, to implicitly suggest to them that discussions
of racism are not ‘about’ their personal troubles. I used to find myself
stating, when a white student would argue that she had not experienced
‘white privilege’, but has grown up struggling economically, that ‘Certainly
not all whites experience privilege the same way, but this is not a class
about ‘class’, it’s a class about race.’
Recently, I have found it more beneficial for white students’ understanding
of racism to acknowledge the ways in which they, too, suffer
under the status quo. First, it is useful to discuss in detail how their own
Italian, Irish, German, or other European-origin ancestors suffered from
not only ethnic discrimination, but also from racism, in that they were
considered non-white, racially, at the time of their immigration. This is
also a very effective illustration of the social construction of ‘race’.
In discussing the racism experienced by their ancestors, we can acknowledge
one of the primary costs of racism to whites – the loss of their ethnicity.

Because their ancestors chose to adopt a white racial identity in order to
assimilate, they relinquished many of their ethnic markers. Obviously, it
is a privilege of whiteness that they were able to do this – more recent
immigrants have not had this option. Still, because they did so, many
young whites are disconnected from their ethnicity, and both threatened
by and envious of the expressions of ethnicity by those around them.
Reminding them of the ethnicity they lost could increase their understanding
of the importance of ethnicity to others. Discussing how whites
previously suffered ethnic discrimination similarly can encourage empathy
to develop for the current experience of people of color. I also find that
discussing early discrimination against white immigrants makes clearer the
structural nature of racism – that it is not about one group or another
being more morally corrupt; it is about who is able to effectively use
discourses and practices of race to economically dominate others.
In addition to acknowledging the costs of racism to whites, I have found
it important to problematize discussions of ‘white privilege’ by including
conversations about differences in social class among whites. George Lipsitz
et al. have pointed out that although all whites to some degree benefit
from white privilege, this can be modified by other statuses, and not all
whites benefit equally from their whiteness (1998, see also Wray 2006).
This is an important point to acknowledge, particularly in institutions like
mine, where many white students are from rural, working-class families,
and are first-generation college students with very little cultural or monetary
capital. In such a setting, discussing white privilege as an identical,
universal experience for all whites is likely to cause white students to tune
out that discussion as well as subsequent ones, as this notion will not ring
true for them. Instead, pointing out variations in social class among whites
may open the door to discussions of how economically working class
whites and people of color have much to gain by becoming allies (see
Bonacich 1980, on the ‘split labor market theory’ of race).

Struggling with silence, tension and guilt
Finally, I believe one of the greatest challenges for us as antiracist educators
is to work against some common negative reactions that can occur in response
to the material we cover in class. I have found that white students,
particularly, are often silent through the entire semester of my race and
ethnicity course. Several of the respondents in my study discussed this
phenomenon. For example, Abigail wrote:
I may be a coward but I am the type of person who likes to avoid friction in
my life, so when a heated racial incident is taking place near me, I do not
perpetuate it nor do I become involved. A member of my class and I were
talking one night about how he noticed that his co-workers, although they are
his friends, try to avoid discussing things about race with him. I can identify
with these people. When put into a situation like this I generally try to avoid
the conversation more or less because I don’t want to offend anyone or hurt
anyone’s feelings, especially if the people in the conversation are my friends.
There is so much racial tension in the United States that as a white person I
fear saying the wrong thing. I avoid these conversations not because I have
nothing to say, but almost because I think I’m being nice. When I explained
this to my classmate I think we learned from each other. I think he realized
that when a white person had nothing to say, it was not necessarily because
they are racist, but maybe they just care about his feeling and don’t want to
inadvertently say anything to hurt him. I learned from him that blacks perceive
a white person avoiding these conversations as perpetuating the problems of
racial inequality. They feel these things need to be talked about and discussed.
He feels that talking may help in solving the problems. The night after I spoke
with him, I felt really good. My eyes were opened a little bit more.

Abigail explains that in order to avoid the possibility of offending a
person of color and increasing racial tensions, she stays silent during
discussions about racism. This position is one held by many well-meaning
whites: that if racial problems in the past have been created by cruel things
people have said to one another, the best way to end racism is to avoid
possibly controversial discussions of race. However, because ending racism
is not just a matter of alleviating personal prejudice, but also demands
changes in our social institutions, simply not discussing it will not make
it go away. Abigail has learned, from discussions with people of color in
her classes, that avoiding conversations about race can ‘perpetuat[e] the
problem.’

In contemplating a friendship with an African-American man, Mike, a
Northern respondent, also discusses whites’ fears of offense that keep
them from meaningful interaction across the color line:
I felt that I had to be more on guard in my conversations with Jim because I
was afraid that I would say something offensive to him. Jim would laugh at me
when he noticed me stumbling over my words so that I could find the most
transparent, blanket statement with regards to my racial opinions. ... Most
white people feel this way; they stumble around issues when talking with
minorities so that they do not offend anyone.

This fact points to a broader problem. I am not a racist but I still have
difficulty dealing with blacks on a social level. This problem is
limited to black people. ... It is hard to explain my reasons for this.
... I am afraid of being called a racist. White people in general have
this fear. We tend to talk down to black people because we are afraid
to be direct with them. This discomfort has been the source of
personal, moral conflict. Why am do I have a tendency to be shy around
black people? I do not distrust them and I am not afraid of them.
However I do not seek the same types of interaction with them as I do
with whites or even other minorities. I cannot communicate my beliefs
to black people because I am afraid they will disagree. ...These
problems are especially bad problems for white people to have because
we are the majority. As the majority we are in control. We should
therefore be engaging minorities and downplaying racism. We have a
responsibility to counteract the acid tongued racists in our group. We
do not do that though. In fact the only whites who seem to be
comfortable talking about race are the racists and the extremists. They
in turn look like they represent white sentiment. ... In order for me to avoid being labeled as a racist, I do
not engage black people with issues that involve race relations. I wash
my conversation of all that could possibly offend the most easily
offended. Thus my conversation becomes jargon, the kind of blanket
statements that third grade teachers tell their students. ‘We are all
the same on the inside.’ It may or may not be true but either way it is
a stupid comment to add to a serious conversation. The lack of
communication between minorities and whites is the greatest problem in
race relations. Racism cannot go away until we learn to communicate
with each other.

Some have pointed out that racism in the United States was formed
along a white–black continuum (see, e.g., Feagin 2000). Thus it should come
as no surprise that whites and African Americans experience particular racial
tensions still today. Mike theorizes that whites seem to feel particularly
judged by African Americans, such that interracial conversations that
could lead to increased understanding are inhibited. As this respondent notes,
it is crucial for well-meaning whites to communicate with African Americans,
or else the interracial dialogue will be abandoned to racist whites.
In the classroom, it is obvious to most of us who teach about race that
we must protect students of color from the sometimes callous, sometimes
outright racist comments of white students. However, I believe it is also
important to create a safe space for white students who are well-meaning
but perhaps feel awkward to share their ideas about race. In my own
classrooms, I have learned over time several ways to do this. For example,
with the mostly rural, mostly working-class white students I teach, I
found a common fear that was keeping many of them from speaking up
in class was simply that they did not know the ‘right’ terms to use to refer
to various people of color. For example, some did not speak simply
because they did not know if they should use the term ‘African American’,
‘black’, or ‘people of color’ to refer to African Americans. It only exacerbates
their sense of awkwardness when sometimes a white student uses a dated
term in class conversation and is quickly ‘shut down’ by black students in
the class. I have found that to open up a safe space for dialogue, it is
important to explicitly address concerns about how to speak about race at
the beginning of the semester, and perhaps even laugh a bit about the
awkwardness inherent in the discussions. Additionally, I sometimes have
to restate a white student’s position, or ask her to clarify it for the class,
when it seems that she has perhaps presented her ideas in a way that has
led students of color to misunderstand her (of course, sometimes, I find
in doing so that the white student meant exactly what it sounded like she
meant). I find that white students are generally less prepared for conversations
about race, less articulate in discussing the issue and less informed about
current events that relate to race. Thus, they are often at a discursive
disadvantage compared to students of color that in some small way mediates
their general position of power and privilege on a predominantly white
campus. However, it is an ongoing challenge to make sure individual
white students feel safe to speak up in class while still exposing the racism
on which many of their ideas are founded.

A final challenge for me as an antiracist instructor has been to try to
encourage a positive identity for young whites. For most of them, unlike
students of color, they have never received any explicit messages from
their parents or others about ‘what it means to be white.’ In fact, the only
people who they have heard discuss whiteness explicitly in terms of
‘pride’ in that identity are white supremacists. So many are at a loss,
especially after hearing the course material that suggests that in fact whites
have been the cause of pain for many other groups, about how to be
‘positively white’. For example, Susan writes:
I think the greatest downfall of the ‘white’ race is that we do not celebrate
being white in a positive manner. ... [W]e have KKK rallies and white supremacy
groups but those are all the white people who do not understand their race
and are ignorant of understanding for other races. That is not celebrating being
white, that is celebrating our fear of being black. African Americans celebrate
their culture, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Latinos; they all celebrate their
cultures ... how do whites celebrate our culture? Many do not because they are
not sure of what their ‘white’ culture is. The idea of this paper was to answer
the question, ‘What does it mean to be white?’ I am not so sure that I know
what the answer to that is, but I have tried to at least scratch the surface.
(Susan, Northern respondent)

It is important, throughout the course, to give white students historical
and contemporary examples of how whites have served as allies to people
of color and to suggest to them ways that they too can become involved
in antiracist activism. Sometimes, an initial step in helping young
whites create a positive white identity is to combat feelings of guilt,
shame or defensiveness that can arise when they hear material about
white racism.

A strategy that has helped in my classes involves drawing clear
distinctions between group-level guilt and personal responsibility. In
other words, whites as a group have historically oppressed people of
color; and although many individual white students have no personal
culpability in that oppression, they have benefited from it and thus
have a responsibility to try to change the system. It is also important
to remind all students that racism has not historically been about
whites being less moral as a group than others, but has been about
using race to justify inequality in economics and power in many parts
of the world and in various historical eras. Making it clear that being
racist is not a ‘natural’ part of their being white also makes it seem
more possible to work toward ending white racism.

In addition to tackling feelings of guilt, which are not productive
toward antiracism, helping white students reconnect with their ethnicity
can be a way to encourage positive whiteness. White students begin to
see that while whiteness may not be an identity in which to feel ‘pride’,
their ethnic identities can provide that sense of pride and ‘culture’ for
which many seem to yearn. In addition, reinvigorating white ethnicity
among young whites can encourage empathy with people of color, and
also discourage cultural tourism by allowing whites to engage with not
only the cultures of people of color, but with people of color themselves.